Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain.
If you've arrived here because of an interest in Galicia or Pontevedra, see my web page here. Garish but informative.
Spain
- A guide to trips along the north coast.
- Spain wouldn't be Spain if it wasn't trying to use Brexit to force British concessions on Gibraltar, possibly vetoing any future deal reached with Brussels. Latest developments/posturings here.
- On the train on Tuesday afternoon, we passed a clearly abandoned village in the folds of the Galcian hills. I was reminded of it by this article, about a couple who symbolise Spain's depopulation.
Life in Spain
- Here's what you need to know if you're daft enought to be planning to drive in Spain in the very near future
- As my daughter was giving an English lesson in her flat yesterday afternoon, I went to the Plaza de 2 de Mayo, to sit on a stone bench and listen to a podcast. There were already 4 or 5 disreputable-looking layabouts there. And an equal number of the local police, checking their IDs. This done, the boys in blues left 'empty-handed', to the obvious delight of the vagabonds. Within seconds, a couple of teenage girls arrived (or returned), plugged a mobile phone into a portable amplifier and then drowned the busy square with South American music played at 11, forcing them to shout to each other in order to chat. This being Spain, no one turned a hair at this auditory pollution. So, I left. Talking to my daughter about this, she told me the police had ceased preventing loud all-night parties in the plaza, to the detriment of the sleep of her and her partner. She'd successfully made a denuncia against nocturnal noise in the street bordering on the square but wasn't in a position to do the same for these parties. Neither of us could understand why flat-owners on the square seemed to be unwilling to take action. But we have theories. Her Spanish partner's view is the traditional one of: Así son las cosas. Nowt to be done about it. Despite the fact he really does need his sleep.
The UK and Brexit
- Below is an article from the sort of optimistic Brexiteer I am/was. I say 'optimistic' but that adjective plainly applies more to the intro than to the rest of the article. As of now, says the writer, the outlook is grim. Possibly even catastrophic, with the UK becoming just like everywhere else - an angry nation, openly at war over class and identitarian issues. The writer departs with the question: Why is the establishment willing to gamble everything for its irrational love of a failing super-state? I wish I knew the answer to that.
The USA
- Some folk think Trump is finally facing up to reality. Real reality, that is, not the one he has on any particular day – or at any particular hour - in his unfathomable head. Click here for a rationale of this (misplaced?) optimism.
- As Fart can do no wrong for his base, the only hope for the future is that this continues to shrink, as some Republicans at least come to their political senses and plan to replace him before the next presidential election. If not the midterms.
Galicia/Pontevedra
- Our fish and seafood market in Pontevedra is a thing of wonder. At least on the ground floor. But things have not been going well for traders on the first floor, where there are now just a few veg sellers. But hope is here in the form of a plan to turn this area into something centred on gourmet foods. As usual in Spain, this venture will be at least partly financed by the EU. In other words, by northern European taxpayers. One wonders why. Can Spanish gourmet food aficionados not fund their own luxury aspirations? If not, Stuff 'em. Say I.
- Which reminds me . . . The Galician government is seeking EU cash to help with dealing with the problem of an ageing population. Why not tax the richer pensioners instead? Probably because the ruling PP party depends on their votes to stay in power.
- It's 150km between Vigo and Oporto but the 20th century train on 19th tracks takes around 2.5 hours to cover the distance, at an average speed of 60kph. When I first came here 18 years ago, it was 3.5 hours and 43kph. But now it's announced that measures are to be taken to reduce it to 1.5 hours and a phenomenal 100kph. About the same as it takes by car. And one day there'll be an AVE high-speed train from La Coruña to Lisbon, passing through Oporto en route. The 12th of Never, I fear.
- Prescriptions for anti-depressants in Galicia are 50% up on what they were 5 year ago. Those for stomach complaints are up 65%. Reasons unknown.
Finally . . .
- A young British historian – Catherine Nixey – has written what appears to be a fascinating book – The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World. See here for info on it. I was about to order it but then read some reviews from older (Christian?) historians who absolutely panned it. So, I think I'll give it a miss and concentrate on Ian Kershaw's second volume on Hitler. Should help to pass the 7 hours on the train back to Pontevedra on Saturday.
© David Colin Davies, Madrid: 26.7.18
A betrayal on Brexit would push British politics to the extremes: Allister Heath
Can mainstream political parties survive? Or are populists and extremists going to take over everywhere, with cataclysmic effects on the economy, liberty and Western civilisation?
My great hope for Brexit was that it would save Britain from such a fate, one that I fear risks befalling much of the rest of Europe. The theory was that leaving the EU would reboot UK politics, paving the way for a novel settlement that reconciled liberalism and soft nationalism, globalisation and democratic self-government. Such an approach would have built on the UK’s unique strengths – a wonderful openness to outsiders, a buccaneering commercial spirit, comparatively well-integrated immigrant communities – while neutralising much of the discontent bubbling under the surface.
A new electoral coalition would have emerged, marshalled by the now fully pro-Brexit Tories, and within a few years of leaving the EU Britain would have become like Switzerland or Australia, in control of its destiny and borders and yet pro-capitalist, open to talent and foreign capital, and trading globally. Our tamed elites would have been forced to address the problems of ordinary people, rebuilding the trust shattered by a series of recessions, scandals and lies.
In this “optimal Brexit” scenario, which I suspect would have materialised had Brexiteers taken power in 2016, the Tory government, to keep hold of its new supporters, would have tackled many of the other egregiously unpopular policies that have created such a wedge between voters and politicians. Softness on crime, excessive levels of foreign aid, the madly expensive HS2, politicised human rights rulings that make a mockery of the real thing, the assumption that there will be more bailouts of private companies, and a dishonest immigration policy, all are hated by a vast majority of people.
Fast-forward two years, however, and the outlook is grim. The kind of reformation I was hoping for may still just about be possible, but it is now equally likely that the establishment’s refusal to implement Brexit properly, its decision not even to try for a Canadian style free trade agreement, its pusillanimous inability to stand up for Britain in the face of EU bullying, will instead break our political system.
Britain has a long history of political exceptionalism – extremist parties have been astonishingly unsuccessful here, partly because the governing classes used to believe in compromising with the public and absorbing social change
The consequences of a Brexit betrayal would be catastrophic: there would no longer be any halting the tide of anti-establishment fury that has been building since the early 1990s. Support for mainstream parties would collapse and new ones would emerge. Yes, a centrist business-as-usual grouping may well be one of those that arises from the rubble, but its supporters – the Remain metropolitan base – massively overestimate its potential. It would be small, little larger than the Lib Dems are today. Sadly, the libertarian yet Eurosceptic party of my dreams would be even tinier.
The real winners would be nasty, European-style extremist parties of Left and Rightthat would desecrate our public life. The polling is depressingly clear: swathes of people would vote for a new authoritarian party under certain circumstances, while there is extensive support for hard line socialist positions. The poison of far-Right and far-Left demagoguery would contaminate our body politic, as has already started with the rise of Corbyn and anti-Semitism in the Labour Party; and just like in other countries, millions would end up voting for detestable people with repellent ideas.
Such an abominable outcome would herald the end of Britain’s long history of political exceptionalism – extremist parties have been astonishingly unsuccessful here, partly because the governing classes used to believe in compromising with the public and absorbing social change. A Brexit sell-out, combined with a continuation of all the other discredited consensus policies of the past few decades, would make the UK just like everywhere else - an angry nation, openly at war over class and identitarian issues.
In France, the National Front grabbed 34 per cent of the vote in the second round of the last presidential election and is one lucky break away from power. Emmanuel Macron’s new party has permitted the pretence that populism was defeated in France. It wasn’t: there would be a global outcry at Macron’s calls for pan-European protectionism were they proposed by Donald Trump. In any case, Macron’s popularity is shot.
In Germany, terrifyingly, the AfD sits at around 17 per cent in the polls, the hard-left Linke at 12 per cent and the anti-capitalist, anti-Nato Greens at 11 per cent, a total of 40 per cent who would tear up the status quo. Britain’s chattering classes don’t seem to realise the extent of the damage wreaked by Angela Merkel, one of the most overrated politicians of this century.
The elites attempting to stop Brexit are unleashing a far greater backlash, one that would make leaving the EU without a deal seem like a tea party
In Italy, the populists are in power, as is also the case in parts of Eastern Europe. In Spain, it is “mainstream” to jail Catalan political opponents. In other countries, supposedly centre-Right and centre-Left parties are implementing policies once only advocated by maniacs. As to America, the Republicans are now a party being rebuilt in Trump’s image, and the Democrats are contemplating their own hard-Left experiment.
Brexit was our last chance to escape this madness and show how popular angst caused by economic turmoil and cultural change can be reconciled with free markets and openness. Yet – in the name of their narrow conception of liberalism, and their bonkers belief that we already live in the best of all possible worlds – the elites attempting to stop Brexit are unleashing a far greater backlash, one that would make leaving the EU without a deal seem like a tea party. Their lack of self-awareness is staggering, proof that we should never underestimate the ability of a ruling class, however educated and sophisticated, to act stupidly.
It is still possible to halt the collapse of our politics, and to do so without pandering to or accommodating the racists, fascists and Marxists. But it would require a dramatic u-turn. The government would need to leave the EU properly, albeit hopefully with a deal and with massive tax cuts to cushion any temporary instability, to vocally express its pride in this country, to allow the building of more homes, to introduce a controlled, but crucially not illiberal immigration policy, and to start campaigning in favour of capitalism.
Mainstream, popular policies of the kind routinely embraced by self-governing countries around the world could nip the extremists in the bud and give the Tories 45 per cent of the vote. Why can’t they see this? And why is the establishment willing to gamble everything for its irrational love of a failing super-state?
Can mainstream political parties survive? Or are populists and extremists going to take over everywhere, with cataclysmic effects on the economy, liberty and Western civilisation?
My great hope for Brexit was that it would save Britain from such a fate, one that I fear risks befalling much of the rest of Europe. The theory was that leaving the EU would reboot UK politics, paving the way for a novel settlement that reconciled liberalism and soft nationalism, globalisation and democratic self-government. Such an approach would have built on the UK’s unique strengths – a wonderful openness to outsiders, a buccaneering commercial spirit, comparatively well-integrated immigrant communities – while neutralising much of the discontent bubbling under the surface.
A new electoral coalition would have emerged, marshalled by the now fully pro-Brexit Tories, and within a few years of leaving the EU Britain would have become like Switzerland or Australia, in control of its destiny and borders and yet pro-capitalist, open to talent and foreign capital, and trading globally. Our tamed elites would have been forced to address the problems of ordinary people, rebuilding the trust shattered by a series of recessions, scandals and lies.
In this “optimal Brexit” scenario, which I suspect would have materialised had Brexiteers taken power in 2016, the Tory government, to keep hold of its new supporters, would have tackled many of the other egregiously unpopular policies that have created such a wedge between voters and politicians. Softness on crime, excessive levels of foreign aid, the madly expensive HS2, politicised human rights rulings that make a mockery of the real thing, the assumption that there will be more bailouts of private companies, and a dishonest immigration policy, all are hated by a vast majority of people.
Fast-forward two years, however, and the outlook is grim. The kind of reformation I was hoping for may still just about be possible, but it is now equally likely that the establishment’s refusal to implement Brexit properly, its decision not even to try for a Canadian style free trade agreement, its pusillanimous inability to stand up for Britain in the face of EU bullying, will instead break our political system.
Britain has a long history of political exceptionalism – extremist parties have been astonishingly unsuccessful here, partly because the governing classes used to believe in compromising with the public and absorbing social change
The consequences of a Brexit betrayal would be catastrophic: there would no longer be any halting the tide of anti-establishment fury that has been building since the early 1990s. Support for mainstream parties would collapse and new ones would emerge. Yes, a centrist business-as-usual grouping may well be one of those that arises from the rubble, but its supporters – the Remain metropolitan base – massively overestimate its potential. It would be small, little larger than the Lib Dems are today. Sadly, the libertarian yet Eurosceptic party of my dreams would be even tinier.
The real winners would be nasty, European-style extremist parties of Left and Rightthat would desecrate our public life. The polling is depressingly clear: swathes of people would vote for a new authoritarian party under certain circumstances, while there is extensive support for hard line socialist positions. The poison of far-Right and far-Left demagoguery would contaminate our body politic, as has already started with the rise of Corbyn and anti-Semitism in the Labour Party; and just like in other countries, millions would end up voting for detestable people with repellent ideas.
Such an abominable outcome would herald the end of Britain’s long history of political exceptionalism – extremist parties have been astonishingly unsuccessful here, partly because the governing classes used to believe in compromising with the public and absorbing social change. A Brexit sell-out, combined with a continuation of all the other discredited consensus policies of the past few decades, would make the UK just like everywhere else - an angry nation, openly at war over class and identitarian issues.
In France, the National Front grabbed 34 per cent of the vote in the second round of the last presidential election and is one lucky break away from power. Emmanuel Macron’s new party has permitted the pretence that populism was defeated in France. It wasn’t: there would be a global outcry at Macron’s calls for pan-European protectionism were they proposed by Donald Trump. In any case, Macron’s popularity is shot.
In Germany, terrifyingly, the AfD sits at around 17 per cent in the polls, the hard-left Linke at 12 per cent and the anti-capitalist, anti-Nato Greens at 11 per cent, a total of 40 per cent who would tear up the status quo. Britain’s chattering classes don’t seem to realise the extent of the damage wreaked by Angela Merkel, one of the most overrated politicians of this century.
The elites attempting to stop Brexit are unleashing a far greater backlash, one that would make leaving the EU without a deal seem like a tea party
In Italy, the populists are in power, as is also the case in parts of Eastern Europe. In Spain, it is “mainstream” to jail Catalan political opponents. In other countries, supposedly centre-Right and centre-Left parties are implementing policies once only advocated by maniacs. As to America, the Republicans are now a party being rebuilt in Trump’s image, and the Democrats are contemplating their own hard-Left experiment.
Brexit was our last chance to escape this madness and show how popular angst caused by economic turmoil and cultural change can be reconciled with free markets and openness. Yet – in the name of their narrow conception of liberalism, and their bonkers belief that we already live in the best of all possible worlds – the elites attempting to stop Brexit are unleashing a far greater backlash, one that would make leaving the EU without a deal seem like a tea party. Their lack of self-awareness is staggering, proof that we should never underestimate the ability of a ruling class, however educated and sophisticated, to act stupidly.
It is still possible to halt the collapse of our politics, and to do so without pandering to or accommodating the racists, fascists and Marxists. But it would require a dramatic u-turn. The government would need to leave the EU properly, albeit hopefully with a deal and with massive tax cuts to cushion any temporary instability, to vocally express its pride in this country, to allow the building of more homes, to introduce a controlled, but crucially not illiberal immigration policy, and to start campaigning in favour of capitalism.
Mainstream, popular policies of the kind routinely embraced by self-governing countries around the world could nip the extremists in the bud and give the Tories 45 per cent of the vote. Why can’t they see this? And why is the establishment willing to gamble everything for its irrational love of a failing super-state?
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